Protector associated with the gumming mechanism of paper converting machines or the like



Feb. 6, 1962 A. NOVICK PROTECTOR ASSOCIATED WITH THE GUMMING MECHANISM OF PAPER CONVERTING MACHINES OR THE LIKE Filed Nov. 9, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 AT TOR/V1575 Feb. 6, 1962 A. NOVICK 3,019,761

PROTECTOR ASSOCIATED WITH THE GUMMING MECHANISM OF PAPER CONVERTING MACHINES OR THE LIKE Filed Nov. 9, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN TOR.

Abra/7am Nowtk az M+ M AT TORNEYS Feb. 6, 1962 A. NOVICK 3, 6

PROTECTOR ASSOCIATED WITH THE GUMMING MECHANISM OF PAPER CONVERTING MACHINES OR THE LIKE Filed Nov. 9, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet s a INVENTO'R. Abra/7am Nov/Ef 7%, 1% ATTUR/VE Y5 Feb. 6, 1962 A. NOVICK 3,019,761

PROTECTOR ASSOCIATED WITH THE GUMMING MECHANISM OF PAPER CONVERTING MACHINES OR THE LIKE 4 Sheets-$heet 4 Filed NOV. 9, 1956 INVENTOR. Abra/1am lYOV/C/f ATTORNEYS rnoracron Assocmfrni) WITH rnn GUMMING MECHANlt'ili i or rerun CONVERTING MA.- CHINES on THE LIKE Abraham Noviclr, Flushing, N.Y., assignor to F. L.

Smithe Machine Co., Inc, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Fiied Nov. 9, 1956, Ser. No. 621,415 13 Claims. (Cl. 118-70) This invention relates to a gumming or adhesive mechanism and more particularly to' a splattered glue or gum receiving and take-oft protector or guard adapted to be used in cooperation with the gumming or adhesive mechanism.

In envelope and other paper converting machinery having gu-mming apparatus there has always been the problem of preventing the fouling of the machinery by gum which was sprayed on portions of the machinery. The spraying is due to the gum applying devices rotating at high speed and slinging off the gum at the time when they break contact with the paper, causing some of the gum to string out and throwing loose bits or droplets in the direction of rotation of the gum appliers. This necessitates frequent stoppages to clean up the accumulation of gum from the mechanism onto which it has been sprayed, resulting in interference with production and high wastage. While the words gum and gurnrning are used throughout the specification as Words conventionally used in the art, it is to be understood that the word adhesive may be employed to signify any kind of material which may be ultimately used for securing together Various parts, such as flaps of envelopes or containers.

Attempts have been made to remedy this diihculty by providing specially compounded gums, but such attempts have never been very successful.

Other attempts at solving this problem have consisted in the provision of stationary shields, which were placed in the path of the thrown droplets. However, since this only meant the shields themselves had to be frequently cleaned it was still necessary to interrupt the normal machine operation. Such shields were therefore very ineffective in solving the serious problem of glue splatter.

it is evident that such a. stoppage of large paper converting machines, such as envelope making machines, for a sufiicient time to clean them of splattered gum is a very uneconomical practice and it is an object of my invention to overcome this important difiiculty.

It is another object of my invention to prevent the fouling of machinery by gum splatter from gumming mechanisms.

it is another object of my invention to continually remove and carry away splattered gum and dispose of it without the necessity of stopping the machine or cleaning it.

It is still another object of my invention to provide a gumming mechanism having a guard or protector which receives the unavoidably splattered gum and continually removes it and thereby obviates the necessity of regularly stopping the machinery for removal of the accumulations of splattered gum.

it is yet another object of the present invention to pro vide a protector mechanism which will efiiciently and economically provide a surface to receive and carry off the gum splattered by the centrifugal force of the gumming mechanism.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawing forming part of the specification:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side view showing the features of this invention applied to the gumrning mechanism of an envelope making machine;

FIG. 2 is a modification of the embodiment illustrated in a section of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 of FIG. I; v I

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the envelope blanks showing the bottom flap and seal flap extended and the end flaps folded inwardly;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary top view of the gum box;

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view with parts similar to those of FIG. 1 except that itshows a constant speed drive to the take-up roll;

. 1G. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing a pawl and ratchet in the drive to the take-up roll;

FIG. 8 is another view similar to FIG. 6 showing a friction disc slip device in the drive to the take-up roll; and

FIG. 9 vertical section taken on the line 99 of FIG. 8 looking in the direction of the arrows.

In the following description of this invention, identical reference numerals will be used to identify like operating parts, these parts being distinguished in each modification by the addition of prime marks.

Only the parts of the envelope making machine which are applicable to the operation of this invention, will be hereinafter described. It being well understood that various other parts are provided for taking the envelope blanks singly from a stack in definite timed relationship and delivering them to a plurality of feed rollers. The feed rollers conduct the envelope blanks to the respective scoring and side flap folding mechanisms to the gumming mechanism which may be similar to that shown in US. Patent No. 1,961,162.

Referring to FIG. 1, a series of feed rollers 5 and 51: generally define a path through which the envelope blanks are conveyed to the gumming mechanism 6a. A feed roller 6 supports the envelope blank in direct opposition to the gum applying means. Each envelope blank (FIG. 4) is fed into themachine with its seal flap trailing and its bottom flap leading.

The gum applying means includes a glue or gum pot or reservoir 8, a gum supply roller 16, a gum transfer roller 12 that turns in engagement with the gum supply roller 10, a pair of gum scraping blades 11 and 11a, and a pair of gum transfer blades 14, mounted on a power driven shaft 16.

FIG. 5 shows that the lowermost scraping blade 11 extends along the full width of the gum supply roller 10. It is not in direct contact with the roller 10, but rather is positioned so that it will accurately control the thickness of the gum carried by that roller to the gum transfer roller 12 and passed to the gum transfer blades 14. The uppermost blade 11a is directly in contact (FIGS. 1 and 5) with the gum supply roller 10 and removes all of the gum from that roller where it is so in contact. The width of the blade 11a is just slightly greater than the distance between the inner ends or tips of the gum transfer blades 14. This can best be seen in FIG. 3 where the nogum area of roller 12, generally defined by 11b, is shown to extend beyond the tips of the gum transfer blades 14. It was found that gum on the tips 11c of the trans fer blades 14 splattered excessively. Hence the no-glue area 11b was provided on the rollers 10 and 21 to slightly overlap the tips of the blades so as toassist in reducing gum splattering.

Recesses 18 are provided in roller 6 to cooperate with the gum applying means so that whenever it develops that an envelope blank is missing in the normally spaced train of blanks, the gum transfer blades 14 will be coincident with the recesses 18 so that gum on the transfer blades will not be deposited on the roller 6. This prevents gum from being transferred to the roller 6 which would otherwise be objectionable in that it would impair the free flow of blanks through a machine.

As the envelope blanks are fed by the rollers 5 and 5a into the bight between transfer blades 14 and roller 6, gum, which has been transferred from reservoir 3 to blades 14 by the cooperation of rollers lit and 12 during rotation of the transfer blades 14 about shaft 16, is applied to the two side flaps of the envelope blank 19. This application is illustrated at 19a and 19b in FIG. 4. After the gum has been applied to each envelope blank, the blank is picked up by additional rollers and 15a and carried away for further processing.

Since the gum transfer blades 14 are rotating at extremely high speeds, the gum as hereinbefore discussed, has a tendency under centrifugal force to be thrown outwardly towards the rollers 15 and 15a by the trans fer blades 14. It has been found that this is particularly true of the gum remaining on the gum transfer blades 14 when the blades 14 leave the blank and start to return, by rotation of shaft 16, to again engage rollers 12 to receive a fresh application of glue. This is due to the fact, that some of the glue remains on the gum transfer blades 14 after contact has been made with the envelope blank. This gum remaining on the blades tends to form strings as the blades are drawn away from the envelope blank and it is the elimination of the splattering of these gum strings towards which this invention is directed.

In order that this thrown-off gum might be prevented from splattering over parts of the machine, most particularly on to the take-off rollers 15 and 15a, a splattered gum receiving and take-off mechanism or guard which will now be described, has been provided.

A web of paper extends from a supply roll 31 of paper supported on a shaft '32. The web 30 extends into the bight between drive roller 34 and spring pressure rubber roller 36. Roller 34 is fast on a shaft 37 driven by means to be later described.

The movement of web 30, as the latter passes into the bight between drive rollers 34 and spring pressured rubber roller 36, is retarded by a brake generally indicated by 31a.

The retarding action of brake 31a will prevent the paper 30 from being accidentally unwound from roll 31, when the paper is not being positively drawn from roll 31, and also will maintain web 30 taut between drive roller 34 and supply roll 31. It being well understood that various other methods can be used to provide this retarding action without departing from the spirit of this invention.

The drive roller 34 regulates the speed at which the web 30 is fed from roll 31. For economy of maintenance and simplicity of use, it is preferable that this web of paper 30 be slightly wider than the distance between the tips lie of the gum applying blades 14.

The web 30 is then led from the rollers 34 and 36, around a freely rotating guide shaft 38 and a continuation 30a thereof extends to and is taken up as paper roll 40 around shaft 42. The shaft 38 is located close to the table over which the envelope blanks travel so that web section 30a will receive the splattered gum. Under the pull action of shaft 42, the web 30-3tla is maintained taut in its path from drive roller 34 to shaft 42. A suitable slip overdrive has been provided for shaft 42 and it should be noted that shaft 42 will only take up on web 30 when the web 30 is being positively fed by the drive roller 34.

The drive for both roller 34 and shaft 42 is provided by a plurality of sprocket chains 43, 44, small sprockets 43a, 44a and larger sprockets 45, 46, which interconnect the drive shaft 16 with roller 34, FIG. 1. These sprockets act as gear reduction means so that the exces sivc speed of shaft 16 will be reduced to the desired slow speed for roller 34 and shaft 42,

-A pulley 47, fixed to the shaft 37, tends to drive a pulley 48, fixed to shaft 42, through the medium of a spring belt 49 which serves as a slip connection to the pulley 48. Pulley 47 is larger than pulley 48, consequently pulley 48 will be constantly overdriven with respect to pulley 47. With this arrangement web 30 being fed through the bight between rollers 34 and 36, will remain taut as it travels around the roller 38 to shaft 42-.

It is preferable that the drive roller '34 and its shaft 37 be driven at a slow, almost imperceptible speed, so as to provide a constantly changing fresh surface to receive and carry off the excess gum centrifugally thrown by the gum transfer blades 14. However, shaft 37 and drive roller 34 could be driven either slowly in a constant manner or if desired, in an intermittent manner and will provide the same fresh surface either way.

FIG. 2 illustrates a modification of the splattered gum receiving and take-off mechanism hereinabove described. A continuous belt like web 50 of paper extends about a freely rotating shaft 54 and a drive roller 56. The shaft 54 is located in a position similar to that hereinabove referred to for the roller 38. The drive roller 56 is mounted for either constant or intermittent rotation, as hereinabove described for roller 34, about the axis of the shaft 58.

A roller 66 is mounted for free rotation about a shaft 62, to position the web ina slightly more advantageous position with its gum receiving surfaces closer to the gum applying mechanism. The function of rollers 56 and 60 can be interchanged if desired, so that the drive for this modification could be performed by the shaft 62 rather than the shaft 58.

Roller 66 is acted on by a pair of springs, only one spring 64 (FIG. 2) being shown, to bear roller 60 against web 5%, in order to maintain the web 50 in an extended taut condition.

In this modification, since web 5% will he moving slowly, gum splattered on a portion of the surface of web 50 will be completely dried when that portion of the web surface returns to a position where it would again receive splattered gum. In this manner, a dry surface will always be available to receive and carry off the gum splattered by the centrifugal force of the gumming mechanism. The web 5% may be replaced when necessary by a fresh one.

FIG. 6 illustrates another modification wherein a direct constant speed drive is applied to the shaft 70, through the connecting belts or chains 72, 74 and pulleys or sprockets 76, 76a, 78 from drive shaft 16 associated with the gum transfer blades 14'.

Shaft 70 draws the paper web 89 from supply roller 82, over a guide roller 80a and around the guide bar 38' under the action of the drive hereinabove described. The brake 31a cooperates with the drive to maintain the paper web 80 taut as it moves from the roller 82 to the shaft 7%) and also retards movement of web 80 so as to prevent web 80 from unrolling from roller 82 when the drive is at rest.

FIG. 7 illustrates still another modification wherein a direct intermittent drive is used to move the paper web. The drive means for shaft 70' being supplied through a gear reduction pulley connected to shaft 16" by belt or chain 7 2.

Paper web is fed from roller 82 around a first guide roller 80a and a second guide roller 38" to the shaft 70. The brake 31a" cooperates with the drive for this modification to retard web 80 and maintain it taut in the same manner as that hereinabove described for the modification illustrated in FIG. 6.

A link 1% is mounted at its lower extremity, by a crank pin 162, to pulley 76, this pin being offset in posi tion from the center of rotation of pulley 76'. This offset of pin 132 causes link 106 to move vertically upwardly and downwardly, as generally indicated by the arrow fill, as pulley 76' rotates.

A ratchet wheel 106 is fixed to shaft 70 to rotate with that shaft and a pawl 110 is pivotally mounted by a stud 110a on link 100. Ratchet wheel 106 has a plurality of teeth 112 adapted to be engaged by this pawl 110. Pawl 119 is biased by a spring 11012 to bear against the ratchet teeth 112 at all times.

As the link 100 moves upwardly, pawl 110 will be forced upwards. The pawl extremity 114, engaging one of the teeth 112, will then drive the ratchet 106 and the shaft 7 in the direction of arrow 115. As the link 100 is drawn downwardly, by the continued rotation of pulley 76', the link 1% will move the pawl extremity 114 downward over the tip of the next tooth 112 so that the pawl 119 will be positioned to again rotate the ratchet 106 in the direction of the arrow 115 when the link 110 is again moved upward. Link 100 has a bifurcated end 117 embracing shaft 70 to maintain link 160 in correct alignment with shaft 70' to insure that the pawl extremity 114 will be positioned to engage teeth 112. A spring biased detent 116 is provided to engage ratchet 106, between the tips of projecting teeth 112, to secure the ratchet wheel 106 in position once it has been moved by the pawl 110 to prevent back slipping while the pawl extremity 114 is being positioned to engage another tooth of the ratchet wheel 106.

As the pulley 76 is being continuously rotated, the shaft 70' will therefore be intermittently driven in the direction of the arrows 115 so as to positively draw the paper web 80' from the roller 82.

In the modification shown in both FIGURES 6 and 7, the speed with which the shafts 70 and 70' withdraws the paper from their respective supply rollers 82, 82, will increase as the paper thickness on the shafts 70 and 70' increases.

The modification shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 is similar to that shown in FIG. 1 wherein the web of paper 30' is fed into the bight between rollers 34 and 36 and is pulled around the guide roller 38" and is taken up as paper roll 46' on shaft 42. The drive for roller 34' being transmitted from shaft 16 by means described hereinabove for the modification in FIG. 1, and transferred to shaft 42 by means to be hereinafter described. The action of brake 31a' acts on the paper 30' in the same manner as hereinabove described for brake 31a in the modification of FIG. 1.

A pulley or sprocket 130 rotates the shaft 42' and take up roll 49'. The sprocket 130 is driven from a sprocket or pulley 132 fixedly mounted on shaft 37. Sprocket 132 being larger than sprocket 130, it therefore follows that when sprockets 130 and 132 are connected by means of a chain or belt 134, sprocket 130 will be overdriven with respect to the sprocket 132.

The slip drive for transmitting the drive of sprocket 130 to the shaft 42 to maintain the paper 30 taut, is best seen in FIG. 9.

A collar 136 is fixedly mounted on shaft 42, for rotation with that shaft, by means of pin 138. A second collar 140 is keyed to the shaft 42 at 142, by conventional means, to that it will be longitudinally movable along shaft 42'.

The movable collar 140 is forced, by spring 144 compressed between collar 136 and collar 140, towards the sprocket 130. A frictional disc 146 of leather, or any other suitable material, is positioned between collar 140 and a surface of sprocket 130.

On the opposite side of sprocket 130 another friction disc 14611 is maintained in contact against sprocket 130 by a collar 14%. Collar 148 is fixedly mounted on shaft 42 for rotation with that shaft by pin 150 In operation, sprocket 130, which rotates about shaft 42', is freely movable axially along shaft 42 and tends to transmit rotation to the shaft 42' through the discs 14 6, 146a which frictionally engage the collars 140 and 148. which are both fixedly mounted on the rotatable shaft 42'. These frictional discs will provide the slip drive to insure that the shaft 42 will maintain the web 30' taut 6 as it travels from the bight between rollers 34, 36' to shaft 42.

I have described hereinabove what I consider to be the best embodiments of my invention and what I desire to cover by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a rotary coating applicator, means for conveying articles past said applicator for a coating application, and shielding means comprising a fibrous material web and means for guiding said fibrous web through a path to intercept splattered coating material by presenting a changing surface for receiving and carrying off the splattered coating material.

2. In combination a paper converting machine having rotary means for applying adhesive to a paper blank which normally splatters adhesive in its operation, rotary feeding means located at the discharge of said rotary adhesive applying means for advancing said blank, means for continuously advancing a web, and means for guiding the Web into the vicinity of the discharge of said rotary adhesive applying means and between said rotary adhesive applying means and said rotary feeding means whereby to present a changing surface for receiving and carrying off adhesive splattered by said rotary means.

3. In combination, a rotary adhesive applicator, means for conveying articles past said applicator for an adhesive application, and shielding means comprising a web and means for advancing said web into the vicinity of the discharge of said adhesive applicator to present a changing surface for receiving and carrying olf adhesive splattered by said applicator.

4. In the combination as in claim 3, including spaced web supporting members, and means for maintaining the web taut between said spaced supporting members.

5. In the combination as in claim 4, wherein the web is an endless belt and wherein the means for maintaining the web taut includes a roller biased to bear against said web adapted to hold said web in extended taut condition.

6. In the combination as in claim 3, wherein said web advancing means includes a rotatable shaft adapted to receive said web, means for supporting a web supply roll and means adapted to maintain said web taut as it proceeds from the web supply roll to said rotatable shaft.

7. In the combination as in claim 6, wherein said means to maintain said web taut includes retarding means adapted to oppose the movement of the web as it is drawn from the supply roll by said web advancing means.

8. In the combination as in claim 7, wherein said retarding means includes a friction brake.

9. In the combination as in claim 6, wherein said web advancing means includes means for driving said rotatable shaft intermittently.

10. In the combination, as in claim 6, wherein said web advancing means includes feed means adapted to draw the web from the web supply roll and said means to maintain said web taut includes slip-drive means connecting said feed means and said rotatable shaft.

11. In the combination as in claim 10, wherein said slip-drive means includes a first pulley mounted for free rotation about the axis of said rotatable shaft, said feed means including a second pulley, pulley drive means interconnecting said first pulley and said second pulley, a first collar fixedly mounted on said rotatable shaft, a second collar fixedly mounted on said rotatable shaft, a movable collar keyed to said rotatable shaft, frictional material between said movable collar and said first pulley, fric tional material between said second collar and said first pulley, means between said movable collar and said first collar causing the first pulley to be frictionally engaged by the frictional material between the movable collar and the first pulley and the frictional material between the first pulley and the second collar, so that the shaft will be rotated.

12. In the combination as in claim 10, wherein said slipdrive means includes a first pulley fixedly mounted for rotation on said rotatable shaft, said feed means including a second pulley, said second pulley being larger than said first pulley, whereby said first pulley is overdriven 5 With respect to said second pulley, and a pulley drive means connecting said first pulley and said second pulley enabling said first pulley to slip with respect to said second pulley.

13. In the combination as in claim 12, wherein said 10 pulley drive means includes a spring belt.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Bazzoni Nov. 26, 1918 Bracewell Feb. 13, 1934 Novick June 5, 1934 Naugler Jan. 25, 1938 Ransburg et a1 May 30, 1950 Dobry Jan. 6, 1953 

